March 15 – Vice-President José Sarney, upon becoming vice president, assumes the duties of president of Brazil, as the new president Tancredo Neves had become severely ill the day before. Sarney would later become Brazil's first civilian president in 21 years, upon Neves' death on April 21.

March 21 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and activist Rick Hansen sets out on his 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi), 26-month Man in Motion tour which raises $26M for spinal cord research and quality of life initiatives.

May 5 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan joins West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany, which includes the graves of 59 elite S.S. troops from World War II.

May 9 - The 3rd total Victory Day Parade, the first in 1945 and the next in 1965, is held on Red Square in Moscow, RSFSR. It features T-34-85 Tanks, Veterans of WWII from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union, and is the first parade to be held during the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode orders police to storm the radical group MOVE's headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire.

June 23 – Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, is blown up by a terrorist bomb 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, on a Montreal–London–Delhi flight, killing all 329 aboard.